| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates by Howard Pyle: killed at the first fire, the cook had died on the way up, three
of the crew were wounded, and the vessel was leaking fast,
betwixt wind and water.
Such was the mate's story. It spread like wildfire, and in half
an hour all the town was in a ferment. Fenwick's Island was very
near home; Blueskin might come sailing into the harbor at any
minute and then--! In an hour Sheriff Jones had called together
most of the able-bodied men of the town, muskets and rifles were
taken down from the chimney places, and every preparation was
made to defend the place against the pirates, should they come
into the harbor and attempt to land.
Howard Pyle's Book of Pirates |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from A Prince of Bohemia by Honore de Balzac: sometimes ask me what I am thinking. . . . I am thinking of my
self-abasement--the prostration of the poorest outcast in the
presence of the Saviour.
"There are still three more pages, you see. La Palferine allowed me to
take the letter, with the traces of tears that still seemed hot upon
it! Here was proof of the truth of his story. Marcas, a shy man enough
with women, was in ecstacies over a second which he read in his corner
before lighting his pipe with it.
" 'Why, any woman in love will write that sort of thing!' cried La
Palferine. 'Love gives all women intelligence and style, which proves
that here in France style proceeds from the matter and not from the
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